Obviously, that's why Joba needs to start.

"You want to get upset about a legitimate issue regarding Joba Chamberlain?

Then stamp your feet, pound your desk and wonder when in hell the Yankees are going to realize that the benefits of adding Joba to their starting rotation are far outweighed by the risk of removing him from their bullpen?

As ironclad evidence, I submit Monday afternoon's season-opening 10-5 loss to the Orioles."

The Yankees lost that game because the starting pitcher was terrible. Six runs in 4 1/3 innings, and he left the game with the bases loaded and one out.


"I mean, here the Yankees were Monday, having survived an awful inaugural outing by CC Sabathia to climb back into a game their were trailing 6-1 on the strength of home runs by Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui.

With the Yankees trailing only 6-5 after seven innings, all the momentum had shifted from the home team to the visitors. There seemed to be no way the dreadful Orioles bullpen could protect that one-run lead, and no way the Yankees could fail to win that ballgame."

Right.

Actually, I was thinking there was no way the Yankees could win this ballgame. Momentum is an idea for hacks who don't have to identify a round object hurtling towards them at 95 miles per hour from 55 feet away and then try to squarely hit that round object with a cylinder.

So, Joba pitches the eighth -- presumably, a shutout inning, because his bullpen ERA is 0.00 -- and then Rivera pitches the ninth, presumably a shutout inning, because his bullpen ERA is 0.00.

(No need to be snarky; this is just a thought experiment.)

The Yankees still lose 6-5.


"Last April, Joba would have come out of the pen to pitch the eighth, and maybe the seventh, and a game that appeared lost after five innings would have looked very much like a game the Yankees were fated to win."

Doubtful that Joba would have entered a game the Yankees were losing.

Also, if it was last April, you'd see a lot of the middle of the bullpen. Because Hughes and Kennedy were in the starting rotation, soon to be replaced by Rasner and Ponson.

Who is getting the Yankees to the 8th inning? Or the 7th inning?


"That means that when the time comes for the Yankees to put the brakes on the other team's offense, retake the momentum and prepare for the predictable endgame known as Mariano Rivera ..."

The Yankees would have lost 6-5.

It was Sabathia's fault all the way.